This is my 75g mixed reef thread. Enjoy :)

ilikefish69

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Most recent pics 06/2023

Getting pretty heavy into 3D printing. Hoping to have mushrooms covering the entire sand bed

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ilikefish69

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Found an old 75g aquarium in a storage shed. It was pretty nice, and I had a 29g BioCube when I was in college and kept a chromis and some shrimp and killed a bunch of coral while trying to figure out why they wouldn't grow. Looking back on it, most likely the light attached to the BioCube hood was not strong enough to provide enough light.

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IT HOLDS WATER YAY!!

I filled that turkey with 75g of tap water, fresh out of the sink. Put 40 pounds of live sand in there. Put 9 pounds of LR from the LFS. And finally, one little yellowtail damselfish.

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HOW ABOUT THAT ROCK STRUCTURE?? Man that is ugly. Also don't mind the three HOB filters, and heater, running carbon and filter floss. They get dirty real fast.

TANK CYCLED - 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, about 10-20 nitrate for weeks. Changed water, and took out the yellowtail and put him in little 20g QT. Then brought home Elsa & Dori (two clownfish) and threw them in. I need proper QT procedure, I know.

A week later, I put yellowtail back in the tank. It's a lot of fun to watch them stare each other down. The little clown will get to close and the damsel will come up to him and the big clown comes in and breaks it all up. Here is a video of them all being friends.

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Tank quickly started to grow diatoms. I bought some CUC from LFS (5 hermits, 4 nassarius) and they have been eating it. I ordered $65 worth of CUC from the Reefcleaners.com, should be here Wednesday as they shipped this morning.

Bought 2 48" Orphek LED bars, one blue and one purple. They are BEAUTIFUL and at $180/piece I am very happy. No corals yet to test the growth, but who knows?

Also have started using RO/DI water as of about a week ago. 20 gallons have gone in, and it has tremendously helped keep the diatoms in check.

NOW I HAVE A SUMP. Bought a $100 overflow from LFS, hate waiting on Amazon. Longest 2 days ever.

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I moved the three HOB filters, and put one piece of rock in a 20g tank. There are 2 return pumps. I have it set up to where the faster the overflow runs, the faster the returns go. I am keeping the correct amount of water in there so it's about 95g total. 75 + 20.I can confirm if the power goes out, there will indeed be a disaster. Hopefully not in the next couple days.

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Most recent picture of tank. Overflow top right corner, return pumps in the middle and top left.



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ilikefish69

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** LOOKING FOR RECOMMENDATIONS on what to put in the sump. Just have one rock there, hoping it is a safe place for the copepods to build up a population.

Also here is the picture of my RO/DI set up. Don't mind the litter boxes.

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ilikefish69

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Newest update - added in $65 of CUC from John at Reef Cleaners. A bunch of little baby nassarius snails, cerith snails, and hermits with a ton of empty shells for them to live in. Keeping diatoms in check. Loving the look of empty sheels on the sand bed
 

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** LOOKING FOR RECOMMENDATIONS on what to put in the sump. Just have one rock there, hoping it is a safe place for the copepods to build up a population.

Also here is the picture of my RO/DI set up. Don't mind the litter boxes.

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Skimmer! Gotta be
 
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ilikefish69

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Look for a used one! People leaving the hobby or upgrading!
That is not a bad idea at all. What about buying a "refugium" vs. having a 20g aquariuam as the refugium and just putting skimmer in there and section it off with glass panes?
 

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That is not a bad idea at all. What about buying a "refugium" vs. having a 20g aquariuam as the refugium and just putting skimmer in there and section it off with glass panes?
Yes you can make it work. a lot of people pair they’re refugium with skimmers in the sump just separated by baffles. It’s recommended to have your refugium down stream from your skimmer to maximize the pod population
 
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ilikefish69

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Yes you can make it work. a lot of people pair they’re refugium with skimmers in the sump just separated by baffles. It’s recommended to have your refugium down stream from your skimmer to maximize the pod population
Right now I just have about 20 lb of live rock in there so copepods can have a place to breed and be safe from the DT hungry mouths. down stream meaning - overflow directly into 20g, then out and into a refugium (in or out of the 20g?) and then back up into the DT?
 

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Good tank so far , I would look into Craigslist and offer up for a used skimmer, sometimes people just need to get rid of stuff. I’m a budget reefer to lol , using only orphek or3 I’ve been able to keep anything - acros , anemones , softies , sps

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ilikefish69

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Good tank so far , I would look into Craigslist and offer up for a used skimmer, sometimes people just need to get rid of stuff. I’m a budget reefer to lol , using only orphek or3 I’ve been able to keep anything - acros , anemones , softies , sps

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You don't know how exciting that is to hear. I haven't had anyone comment positive/negative regarding the orphek or3 LED's and growing coral. I've been hesitant to try them out, but I also spent $400 on lights and was hoping that would suffice. I've got two 48" one blue one purple. What are you running in that pic, it looks like almost 5 bars....
 

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You don't know how exciting that is to hear. I haven't had anyone comment positive/negative regarding the orphek or3 LED's and growing coral. I've been hesitant to try them out, but I also spent $400 on lights and was hoping that would suffice. I've got two 48" one blue one purple. What are you running in that pic, it looks like almost 5 bars....
I am running 5 , 3 orphek or3 blue plus and 2 reef day. It is probly overkill , orphek themselves said two would suffice for all coral expect acro. I just got lucky in acquiring two extra ones
 

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** LOOKING FOR RECOMMENDATIONS on what to put in the sump. Just have one rock there, hoping it is a safe place for the copepods to build up a population.

Also here is the picture of my RO/DI set up. Don't mind the litter boxes.

1653331281103.png
What kind of rodi system is that? And where did u get it? Would love to have a portable one like that
 
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ilikefish69

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Sooo I put together my refugium. It’s pretty ghetto, but it makes me happy. Water flows in to an old beta tank, where I keep bag of carbon. Leaves small into bigger tub with holes in the bottom and filter floss on the bottom for fine particle removal. Then water enters biggest tub where the return pump is located. Used a sump pump check valve, had to get creative to connect a 1” flexible tubing to a male threaded 1.5” inflow and a 1” slide outflow, don’t mind the black silicone, I always say better safe than sorry.

also grabbed some GSP and a condy anenome. Condy settled in right between 2 rocks, GSP is already moved to the rock I set the frag on. Will isolate it and want to eventually have it covering back glass
 

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ilikefish69

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Update cause it’s been awhile. Got a new shelf to hang the lights from, definitely need to raise them up a bit. Also ordered orphek lens kit so I can snap pics of my sweet corals. They’re so cute little tiny coral babies hopefully some day to be big babies. Also green condy nem so much fun to watch almost killed it but been happy for awhile. Set up 29g biocube once I have enough organic waste I’ll do I’ll display macro tank in it and mount some lights up in there. Currently got a eshoppes overflow with a tetra return pump goin roughly 800 gph.
 

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